eNABLE Space on Printables.com
Description of Proposed Project:
I have been approached by representatives of Prusa Research to highlight eNABLE through their Printables website. They would like to feature eNABLE designs in a specific section of the site for "Charities and Humanitarian" projects. In addition, they are interested in highlighting an eNABLE printables.com account through a blog post and potentially sponsoring design contests in the future to help eNABLE iterate/improve designs. I would like to ask for permission from the eNABLE community to undertake this project to moderate an official eNABLE section on printables.com for sharing eNABLE designs with the Prusa community. My intention is to post only those designs that are currently highly recommended, have good documentation and/or produce positive testing results. This should simplify the number of designs to post and provide a positive and highly curated experience for eNABLE participants coming through printables.com. Links will be provided to the eNABLE Hub through all design pages for volunteers that may express interest in additional designs.
Tentative eNABLE Description for Printables:
eNABLE is a global network of digital humanitarians using 3D printing to create upper limb prosthetics and assistive devices. All volunteers are welcome to print designs to help others, educate the public on upper limb differences and, critically, help create improve and create new devices! This curated list is an example of the most impactful and properly documented devices we suggest using and would like to see iteration on. For more designs and information on how to help as a volunteer visit https://hub.e-nable.org/s/e-nable-forum/wiki/Welcome+to+e-NABLE%21
Page is managed by @ebubar - eNABLE volunteer
Expected results/impact:
I expect this could bring new volunteers into the community. It will expose more individuals with 3D printers to eNABLE, it will provide additional coverage for the project through potential Prusa blog posts and future eNABLE/Prusa sponsored contests and bring more designers and engineers with an eye towards tinkering, improving and testing designs into the community.
Estimate of work effort involved:
40 hours to download and move recommended eNABLE designs onto printables. 1-2 hours monthly to update design files on printables as needed.
Estimated timeline for completion:
Initial file transfer would be completed within a month. Upon completion of initial upload, discussion with Prusa about blog posts would occur.
Names of individuals responsible for deliverables:
Eric Bubar
Amount of funding being requested:
No funding requested.
A brief overview of my background with e-NABLE:
I have been volunteering with eNABLE for approximately a 9 years. In that time I have provided devices, actively participated and presented at eNABLE conferences, represented eNABLE at makerfaires/events in the DC/MD/VA region, conducted and published academic research on eNABLE devices and, most recently, encouraged a wide-scale formal testing process (the Box and Block test) to quantitatively assess designs.
ebubar Fri 6 Oct 2023 9:06PM
@Adam Jennings I do have some connections there. As soon as we can get models published I think they'd be keen to post some stories and i'd absolutely like to work with you one that. They've also expressed interest in hosting a design flash contest with potential for them to offer prizes for designs so I think there's good potential for growth there.
Teri Sanor Fri 6 Oct 2023 6:59PM
Unsubscribe please for [email protected]
Alexander (Maverick - EU-RO) Sat 7 Oct 2023 6:08AM
Could there be a similar space for non tested or used-once devices? (e.g. for all the modified Phoenixes with finger accomodations, and all the custom models that were tailor made for one case or another) perhaps with a specific tag, like "prototype", or in a specific collection of such prototypes. I don't have a clear idea of how it could be structured =)
ebubar Mon 9 Oct 2023 11:36AM
@Alexander (Maverick - EU-RO) Thanks for the comment! My inclination would be to keep Printables clean of one-offs/prototypes and only post designs that are highly and clearly documented. This way its a HIGHLY curated collection. I'll draft a statement to put on all Printables uploads directing people to the HUB for further information/advice/one-off and prototype designs. Does that sound sensible?
Alexander (Maverick - EU-RO) Sun 29 Oct 2023 3:59PM
@ebubar Sorry for the late reply Eric, I am not nearly as active on this as I should be. I definitely agree that the Printables collection should be curated and not contain one-offs.
As for a suitable alternative, I don't know. On the hub, I don't know of any good place that could host such designs. Having a different 'collection' of one-offs on a site like Printables has the advantage of not requiring people to go through the Hub to know of possible ideas and prototypes. Still, it definitely cannot be the same collection as the curated one. Could be a thing for the leaders to discuss, definitely outside of the scope of this project.
Jon Schull Sat 7 Oct 2023 2:10PM
Sounds like a no-brainer to me. But we should coordinate with Ian Roy who is working with  NIH3Dâ¦.
[email protected] cell:Â 585-738-6696
Co-Founder, Â e-NABLE: volunteers worldwide making free, 3D printed prosthetics
Innovation Fellow, JMK Innovation Fund
Sent from iPhone: beware tyops.
ebubar Mon 9 Oct 2023 11:37AM
@Jon Schull Will do! In my mind, NIH3D is a source for all designs to be posted (prototypes, one-offs, legacy, etc). That's a big undertaking and i'm hoping Ian is being compensated for it!
Alberto Navatta Sun 8 Oct 2023 7:31PM
I agree that it is a great idea and that in general it can help spread awareness of the enable initiative and facilitate the on-boarding of new volunteers. What worries me a little, in general, is that perhaps things risk becoming a little confusing (at least for me and, maybe, also for the new volunteers who will join this initiative) and difficult to manage: we have so many devices (and this is certainly a good thing but, on the other hand, inexperienced volunteers seem to get lost with so much information, I see constant requests for help to understand where to start), we also have several catalogs (in production or in progress, I count at least three: the official pages on the hub, the reorganized pages made by @Alexander (Maverick - EU-RO) - still on the hub, made as a prototype -, the NIH3D catalogue, which I assume is also in progress)... in my opinion this project is definitely a good opportunity and the fact that it has no associated costs makes it even more valuable (thanks @ebubar for offering to do it as a volunteer), but, in my opinion. the opportunities must be small pieces of an overall vision path (personally I am not able to clearly understand the vision, it could be a specific limitation of mine due to the fact that I too have to deal with several things in parallel and therefore I miss lots of community activities), I say this with the hope to solicit thoughts on this topic too, so that we as a community can develop a clear vision of how to make all these resources effectively valuable and used.
ebubar Mon 9 Oct 2023 11:40AM
@Alberto Navatta Agreed about a vision and I think that's something @Adam Jennings is systematically studying and working towards. My intention is to not post all designs and ONLY post those that are well documented and passing the testing that I do through my lab. I don't want to post one-offs, prototypes or untested designs to printables. I'll writeup a statement to post with all printables designs that will direct people to the HUB if they want more designs or information. I'll try to get that done today and update this page.
Adam Jennings · Fri 6 Oct 2023 5:57PM
I think this is a great idea! Eric, I take it that you have connections there? I would be very interested in working with you to develop stories that they could elevate on their social media accounts, if that would be useful.